10 June 2017

Sylvia Plath's Smith College Scrapbook

The following is a catalog of the items in Sylvia Plath's Smith College scrapbook held by the Lilly Library in Plath mss II, Oversize 8. As with Plath's high school scrapbook, it is heavily annotated with the memorabilia from her college years. The items here date almost exclusively from the fall of 1951 through early summer 1955, from Plath's sophomore year at Smith College through to her graduation from Smith College and preparation to leave for England on her Fulbright scholarship.

As with the high school scrapbook, the information here was obtained from 16-19 March 2015 on a research visit I made to the Lilly Library. The contents reflect what I saw and photographed at that time. Upon analyzing each page image, it was determined that several of the now loose items were found to be in the wrong folder and/or with the wrong page. So some items will appear in the list below with annotations about where it was photographed and where it should be belong. I used the same descriptors, too: Attachment, Clipping, and Photograph. By my counts, there are, or were, 319 items in the scrapbook: 58 Photographs, 233 Attachments, and 28 Clippings. Also, there are, or were, several missing items. I'm confident about 2 photographs and 1 attachment, and several items as mentioned above were probably/possibly in the wrong folder. There are four blank pages (1, 2, 87, and 88). Excepting the missing photograph of Richard Norton, each of the photographs has a date assigned to it. The dates are as accurate as I have been able to establish from the scrapbook, Plath's diaries, journals, letters, and other sources. Photographs have been described based on a list of photographs provided by the Lilly Library and my own observations.

Page 11
Attachment: "Smith College Exercises in Commemoration of the 220th anniversary of the birth of Washington", 22 February 1952, program
Attachment: You Axed For It / We Hatched It, program
Attachment: Ticket stub, 22 February 1952, John M. Greene Hall, Balcony Section N Row 2 Seat 21

Page 15
Attachment: Ring Round the Moon (12-15 May 1953), program
Attachment: The Daughter of Jorio (18-21 March 1953), program
Photograph: Barbara Michelson and Charlotte Kennedy with other Smith College students at a tennis court; captioned on verso: "For you, Charlotte ma'am – 'a portrait of the thinker' or: 'Fleas?'"; dated "Sept. '53" on verso

Page 22
Attachment: The Old Mill at Brewster, Mass. (postcard): From Joan Cantor to SP, postmarked 21 April 1953
Photograph: Sylvia Plath and Joan Cantor at the beach with beach bag; August 1952
Photograph: Sylvia Plath and Eddie Cohen's friend in coral convertible car; August 1952
Photograph: Sue and Bill Cantor at the beach; captioned on verso by SP; August 1952
Photograph: Sylvia Plath and Joan Cantor sitting in back of a car; captioned on recto"Me and Joanie Aug 1952"; captioned on verso: "Joanie Cantor & me August 1952
Attachment: The oldest Water Mill on the American Continent Cape Cod, Mass. (postcard); from Jim McNeely to SP, postmarked 10September 1952

Page 30
Attachment: Napkin of a red and black rooster
Attachment: Playbill for National Theatre, Camino Real
Attachment: National Theatre, Camino Real, program
Clipping: Camino Real show times, probably from The New York Times

Page 38
Photograph: Sylvia Plath, Anne Shawber, and two men with drinks at St. Regis Roof, NYC, 10 June 1953
Photograph: Sylvia Plath and man at St. Regis Roof, NYC, 10 June 1953
Photograph: Sylvia Plath and two men at St. Regis Roof, NYC, 10 June 1953
Photograph: Sylvia Plath and man at St. Regis Roof, NYC, 10 June 1953

Page 56
Attachment: Letter from James T. McFate to SP, 5 May 1954, regarding reservation at The Hanover Inn at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, for 14-15 June 1954; SP shared a room with Jean Macmillan
Attachment: Napkin from Club Zara, 475 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass., showing a woman dancing

Page 57
Attachment: Letter from Alan K. "Scotty" Campbell to SP, 1 June 1954, informing SP that she was awarded full scholarship to summer school
Clipping: "Harvard Summer Scholarships Won by Six in Massachusetts." The Boston Globe. 1 July 1954: 26; SP's forename spelled "Silvia"
Attachment: Invitation to cocktails from Mademoiselle and Betsy Talbot Blackwell, 24 June 1954, to meet the Mademoiselle 1954 Guest Editors

Page 86
Clipping: "Sylvia Plath Among Three Given Fulbright Scholarships." Daily Hampshire Gazette. 24 May 1955: 3; annotated by SP
Attachment: Letter from Newnham College to SP (postcard), 30 October 1954; acknowledging receipt of fee for "Special Test papers taken overseas"
Attachment: Envelope from U.S. Educational Commission in the U.K. to SP, postmarked 6 June 1955